"Promotes terrorism"

Israel officially informs UN about UNRWA ban

(Bild: APA/AFP)

Israel has now officially informed the United Nations about the implementation of its decision to ban work for the Palestinian relief organization UNRWA. This was announced by Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon on Platform X. "The State of Israel will continue to cooperate with humanitarian organizations, but not with organizations that promote terrorism against us," he wrote. 

Danon emphasized that the UN had done nothing to rectify the situation, even though Israel had presented "overwhelming evidence" that "proves the infiltration of UNRWA by Hamas". He attached a copy of the letter from the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem to his post. According to this, the legislation will come into force after a three-month period.

Operations in Palestinian territories hardly possible any more
Israel accuses the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency that some of its employees were involved in terrorist activities on October 7. Last Monday, Israel's parliament approved a controversial bill that prohibits the organization from operating on Israeli territory. This means that the organization can hardly continue its operations in the Palestinian territories because Israel controls the border crossings. The move had caused international concern for the humanitarian situation of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The UN Security Council had called on Israel to reverse the UNRWA work ban.

UN ambassador: "There is no justification"
In its unanimous statement, the UN Security Council declared that any interruption or suspension of UNRWA's work would have serious humanitarian consequences for millions of Palestinian refugees. British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward said: "The allegations against UNRWA staff earlier this year have been fully investigated. There is no justification for severing relations with UNRWA".